While I understand your perspective, Craig, I could not disagree more.
First, there is a federal law (Migratory Bird Treaty Act) protecting birds of prey, so killing raptors is a federal offense. Killing other predators, coyotes for example, is subject to different laws, but it is unlikely that someone could legally choose to kill a predator simply because it is killing their pets. The law distinguishes farm animals from pets, and farmers have different exemptions. Racing pigeons are not farm animals.
Second, if I let my pets loose in a state forest and they were eaten by wild predators, I'd have no one to blame but myself. The same is true if I let them loose in my own backyard -- there are wild animals out there in their own habitat, and I/my pets are the invaders. We need to protect our pets from nature by not exposing them, not killing wild animals because it is inconvenient for us. This is why you can't kill the bobcat, bear, fisher, or fox that happens to live in/near your yard. I had a neighbor for years who did not feed her cats, allowing them to hunt for their food at my bird feeders. I wanted to get rid of the cats, but I couldn't do that, either. It's similar to the pigeon racer: a predator where you don't want one, but you need to find ways to deal with it.
I have no sympathy for the pigeon racers. They choose to release their stock into the dangerous wild world, and they need to accept the risk they take. I think that educating them about raptors is an important step, but mostly they need to understand the law. My suspicion is that they know and don't care about raptors, and so they ought to face the stiffest penalty possible.
Sarah Faulkner
Collinsville
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Minor via CTBirds" <ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org>
To: "ctbirds" <ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 11:35:39 AM
Subject: [CT Birds] Raptor trapping
I see the guy that did the raptor trapping is being hung out to dry on this
Web page . Now I know my opinion might upset some or maybe most of you. The
fact is he was trying to protect his stock just as a farmer who has cattle
would if there were a Wolf or a bear around. Maybe the right attitude would
be to educate the pigeon racers on how to protect their stock instead of
hanging them. I am sure most of you would feel the same way he did if there
was a pack of coyotes eating your family pets for dinner . Craig vernon
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